Brazil's setter Thiago Veloso is considered a key player to watch at the premier FIVB Men's U23 Championship Open

Lausanne, Switzerland, October 4, 2013 – In another busy
weekend of volleyball, the six-team lineup for the FIVB Men’s Grand Champions
Cup will be complete, the European men will continue their battle for a place
in the 2014 FIVB World Championship, and the much-anticipated premier FIVB
Volleyball U23 Championships will debut.

On Friday, the quarterfinals begin for the final Asian
men’s spot in the FIVB Men’s Grand Champions Cup. Thailand and Japan will battle first, followed by Iran v Libya,
Australia v Korea, and China v India. The winning team will join Japan (hosts),
Brazil, Russia, USA and the team selected by the FIVB/JVA/NTA in Men’s Grand
Champions Cup in November.

Also on Friday, Europe’s
second round qualifiers for the 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championships
continue. The first, second and third placed teams at the end of the single
round robin on Sunday will make it to the third and last stage of the
qualification process for the 2014 Men’s World Championship that is scheduled
for early January.

Saturday is the big day for the underage women, when the first-ever
FIVB Volleyball
Women’s U23 Championship Open begin in Mexico. The event provides an
important opportunity for the young players from the national teams, who are future stars and will potentiallybe competing with their national teams at the Olympic
Games of Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Argentina, Brazil, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Turkey and the USA are all participating in the
premier women’s event. The tournaments will also serve as a test for two rules:
the sets will be played to 21 points instead of the customary 25, and there
will be an interval of 15 seconds between the referee’s whistle and the serve.

The underage men will begin their competition on Sunday in
Brazil. The Men’s U23 World Championship Open will also test the same rules as
the women’s tournament.

The FIVB Volleyball U23 World Championships Open for men and
women also provides another opportunity for age-group players to participate in
an international tournament with the goal of reducing the gap between age-group
and senior level volleyball.